Flower > Greenhouse Academy > Discontinued

Black Smoke

On the court I overhear Sophie,
"Hey, Alex. I saw Leo and Hayley in the driveway, she's back."
"Really?" He questions,
"Yes." Sophie confirms,
"Thanks." Alex breathes out relieved. Huddling in at the side of the court we prepare our selfs,
"One, two, three!, Eagles!" We cheer and I take my position as Shooting Guard before the whistle blows and the game begins.
          The ball, in our possession is passed back and forth before it reaches Daniel who shoots and misses before hissing in what looks to be pain and clutching his leg, the game continues on, dribbling, passing and shooting continues. So the first word I thought of was friendship, because this is a movie about a friendship between two leaders. One leader being older and more experienced, Daniel once again has the ball, he shoots again but this time scores, we gather round Daniel congratulating him, and the other being new and fresh. I see Alex in the corner of my eye grinning and shouting. Cheers travel round the Eagles side of the audience.
We gather in a group to talk strategy,
At first, Woody thinks he's going to be the leader forever, as we head back onto the court, coach grabs our attention,
"Hayward! Take a break on the bench." He orders,
"What?", Daniel interjects outraged,
"Woods, you warmed up? You need to get in there", coach suggests, but then Buzz Lightyear comes along, and he realizes he isn't as perfect as he thought.
"Coach, I'm fine, there's just two minutes left. Let me finish this game." Daniel insists with desperation,
"No way. Go on, Alex." Coach orders.
Woody was willing to sacrifice Buzz to stay the leader, but he realized his mistake as soon as he did so.
That's why the word I chose is humility.
I think Woody only became a true leader once he was able to admit to his mistake.
"Well, hurry up already!" Coach says to Alex hurriedly,
"Sorry, Coach, if Daniel says he's fine, he should be in the game." Alex suggests,
"Go on.", coach says almost dejectedly,
"Thanks, Coach." Daniel acknowledged,
"Yeah, yeah." Coach waves him off,
As soon as he did that, not only did he earn his role, he also earned a friend for life.
That's what leadership means to me.

"Eagles! Eagles! Eagles! Eagles! Eagles! Eagles!", was a constant chant as Daniel bounced the ball preparing to take his penalty shots, he makes the first shot and scores the basket, cheers become louder, we crowd around Daniel again pulling him into half, tired, hugs.
          "All right! Come on, Daniel! Just one more, bro!" I hear Alex shouts from the sidelines,
"Come on. Come on." We scream in support. He makes the shot. He scores.

The stadium erupts into cheers as the commentator confirms,
"The Eagles win the game!"
"Eagles! Eagles! Eagles! Eagles!", everyone chants, I pull Daniel into a tight hug which he returns before everyone begins to congratulate him as he turns to my brother,
"I'll never forget this, Alex.", as he begins to collapse.
"Daniel? Daniel? Daniel? Daniel! Daniel!", shouts of question turn to screams of worry as he hits the floor.
Dropping down to the floor by his side I grab his wrist, feeling for a beat, "he's got a pulse",I shout though worry consumes me as I feel it becoming slower by the second.
Medical staff surround me as his mother comes running, lifting him onto a gurney an oxygen mask is placed on his face as he is wheeled out, myself, Brooke, Parker, Sophie and a crowd of Eagles following behind. Being forced back by the ambulance I pulled Brooke into hug as we watched the ambulance drive away, tears running down our faces.

~~~~~~~~~~

"He'll be fine, Judy. I know Dr.
Schwartz well, he's in good hands.", I overhear Louis reassure Daniel's mum, who I now know to be Judy,
"I just don't understand how a strong, healthy boy just collapses like that."
"The important thing is he comes out of the operation safe and sound.", Louis replies softly,
"And didn't you suspect anything?" Sophie says to Brooke while on a three-way call with myself and Brooke,
"I knew he was going through something, and I chose to ignore it. Now look what happened." Brooke says dejectedly,
"Hey, don't blame yourself, okay? You didn't do anything wrong." I say strongly,
"I should've insisted he tell me the truth.
The doctor's here, I'll call you later." Brooke replies drawing my attention to the doctor who nears us,
"Okay, cool.Keep me posted, okay?" Sophie states before ending the call.
"Dr.Schwartz, how's my son? He's in recovery, he's still unconscious, but there's no need to worry." The doctor reassures allowing us to take a sigh of relief,
"And his leg?" Judy questions,
"It's too early to tell, it all depends on the damage done by the Taser barb we pulled out." He states in reply,
"Taser barb? What are you talking about?", Judy asks while me and Brooke share a look of confusion and shock,
"That was the cause of the infection. Judging by its severity, the barb had been there for several days." He announces,
"Did you know about this?", Judy questions Louis, Brooke and I,
"No.", Louis replies seriously.
"In any case, I have to notify the police." The doctor affirms,
"The police? Why?" Judy asks with a tone of alarm, her voice getting louder by the word,
"It's standard procedure with Taser-related wounds." He asserts,
"Um can I see him?" Judy asks, almost lost for words,
"Yes, of course.", the doctor says before leading us to Daniel's room.
          "Dad, we need to talk.", Brooke says to Louis as I watch Judy follow the doctor to Daniel.

"So you knew this whole time?", Louis says looking between myself and Brooke,
"No, I was just leading Brooke to Daniel I was already running again by the time he was throwing it", I reply surely,
"I told you, I wasn't sure." Brooke says,
"No, you told me you saw him throwing the Taser into the ocean." Louis says, his focus now completely on Brooke.
"But I was so far away, it was hard to tell what it was, he told me it was just a rock." Brooke alleges,
"I did not raise you to be this gullible! Anything else you haven't told me? Some small detail that might complicate things even further?", Louis blows up on Brooke,
"I can't believe you still think I'm lying.", she replies, a look of hurt flashing across her face,
"That's what happens when you betray someone's trust,  and you could have saved your friends the trouble of taking unnecessary polygraph tests.", Louis
"This already hurts enough as it is.", Brooke replies as she looks like she's about to burst into tears any second now,
"Don't you see how this makes us look? Having the Taser on Greenhouse premises? Can you imagine what that will do to the school?", Louis asks, his voice raising,
"You're worried about your reputation.", Brooke mutters,
"I'm worried about you, Brooke! If the barb matches the Taser the FBI found on the beach, they'll arrest both you and Daniel",Louis says his tone of voice now going from anger to worry,
"Me?" Brooke asks in shock,
"You're a witness who remained silent, that makes you Daniel's accomplice." Louis states.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh, sorry, we didn't want to interrupt." I say softly, my eyes going to Daniel who's hooked up to multiple machines, trying to avoid the blazing glare that Judy was sending out way,
"The vending machine had Daniel's favorite flavor." Brooke adds, before Daniel begins to cough.
We quickly all made our way to crowd around Daniels bed,
"Daniel. Daniel, can you hear me?" Judy questions,
"Hey." Brooke says softly, while I just send a smile his way,  Louis had come in and the four of us were gathered around Daniels bed, waiting for him to tell us what happened.

"It was about two weeks ago. I was out on my morning run, and that's when I found the Taser. It was stupid to pick it up, I know, but I was curious." Daniel explains, full of regret,
"What were you thinking?", Judy berates,
"Go on.", Louis urges,
"And then it hit my leg, I didn't want to get into trouble. I panicked, I was going to give it to you, I swear. But then the FBI showed up and I panicked again. So I threw it into the ocean.", Daniel tries to excuse himself,
"I'm disappointed by your poor judgment, Daniel.", Louis chides,
"Louis!", I exclaim shocked.
"Dad, stop! Can't you see he's in enough pain already?", Brooke asks,
"It's good he's in pain.", Judy affirms,
"Judy, how can you say that?", Brooke's questions appalled.
"She's right, I screwed up big-time. I'm so sorry, Louis.", Daniel lowers his head, disappointed in himself,
"Unfortunately, I'm not your biggest problem. It's the FBI that you should be worried about.", Louis informs Daniel.

~~~~~~~~~~

"All right. Ready?" I ask, as Brooke passes Daniel his crutches and grabs his arm to keep him steady,
"Okay." Brooke says slowly as Daniel begins to stand,
"Okay, just - Okay.", Judy mutters worriedly as she hovers close by,
"Okay? Okay." Daniel starts,
"All right, these are gonna take some getting used to.", he finishes with an uneasy laugh.

"Come on your the Daniel Hayward, star player of the Eagles basketball team, if you can win a basketball game while injured you can do anything, including walk in crutches", I smile at him, catching Judy watch us in the corner of her eye, while Daniel smiles back,
"You got it. Come on. Come on.", Brooke inputs,
"Mmm, okay. Okay.", Daniel groans out in pain,
"Okay, okay, not so fast, I don't want him to fall.", Judy goes closer to Daniel in fear,
"I got it, Ma." Daniel laughs her off.
           Louis walks into the hospital room and announces, "I just spoke with the FBI. It's your lucky day, Daniel."
"What?" Daniel questions as we look at each other in hope,
"Case is closed, there was some kind of an accident and the evidence is all gone.", Louis smiles,
"Wow! That's Wow!" Daniel exclaims
"This is brilliant, amazing", I comment as I turn to Daniel and hug him gently,
"Wait, what accident, Dad? I don't understand." Brooke says
"Who cares? Right, Mom?", Daniel exclaims,
"Yeah, what a break." Judy comments,
"Louis, I will never let you down again. I promise." Daniel says with conviction,
"I believe you. But as a leader, you failed miserably. Now, I appreciate all the contributions you've made to the Greenhouse, and that's why I won't expel you. But you'll no longer be captain of the Eagles." Louis explains with a sad tone.

Daniel and I turn to look a each other and the despair I see in his eyes breaks my heart.